Still Picture Format for Subsequent Picture Stitching for Forming a Panoramic Image

1. A method for storing a plurality of still images to form a panoramic image, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first image forming a part of a series of images to form a panoramic image; storing the first image in memory; receiving one or more subsequent images and for each of the images received performing the sub-steps of calculating one or more panoramic parameters including motion estimation and color correction between a current image and a previous image stored in memory; and storing the current image with the one or more panoramic parameters in memory, wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are also stored in a field of a compressed image format reserved for at least one of comments and extensions so as to preserve the stored image file compatibility with other images stored without the one or more panoramic parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing the current image in an image format selected from the group of image formats consisting of JPEG file format as defined by ISO DIS 10918, BMP file format, and Tagged lmage File Format (TIFF).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing the current image in non-volatile memory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing the panoramic parameters in a comment field of an image format.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing the panoramic parameters in a marker segment of a JPEG image format as defined by ISO DIS 10918.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing an index value representing a sequence number of the current image in the series of images.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing any one of the parameters of displacement, color, and focal length.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: playing back the plurality of still images stored to form a panoramic image comprising the sub-steps of: retrieving one or more images from memory; and stitching the one or more images together to form a panoramic image using the one or more panoramic parameters previously stored in memory.

9. The method of claim 8 , where in the step of playing back the plurality of still images includes the sub-steps of: decoding the one or more images from a given image format; and down sampling the one or more images to fit a given display format.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving one or more subsequent images further comprises: aligning a current image with a prior image by using a preview strip.

11. A computer readable storage medium containing programming instructions for storing a plurality of still images to form a panoramic image from a digital camera, the programming instructions comprising: receiving a first image forming a part of a series of images to form a panoramic image; storing the first image in memory; receiving one or more subsequent images and for each of the images received performing the programming instructions of calculating one or more panoramic parameters including motion estimation and color correction between a current image and a previous image stored in memory; and storing the current image with the one or more panoramic parameters in memory, wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are also stored in a field of a compressed image format reserved for at least one of comments and extensions so as to preserve the stored image fife compatibility with other images stored without the one or more panoramic parameters.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the programming instruction of storing the current image with one or more panoramic parameters includes storing the current image in an image format selected from the group of image formats consisting of JPEG file format as defined by ISO DIS 10918, BMP file format, and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).

13. A picture-stitching device for storing a plurality of still images to form a panoramic image, the device comprising: an interface to memory for holding a plurality of still images to form a panoramic; a first image received in memory which forms a part of a series of images to form a panoramic image; one or more subsequent images received in a buffer; an interface to a processor for calculating one or more panoramic parameters including motion estimation and color correction for each one or more subsequent images received into memory, calculating one or more panoramic parameters between a current image and a previous image stored in memory; and wherein the current image with the one or more panoramic parameters are stored in memory, wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are also stored in a field of a compressed image format reserved for at least one of comments and extensions so as to preserve the stored image file compatibility with other images stored without the one or more panoramic parameters.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the more panoramic parameters includes storing the current image in an image format selected from the group of image formats consisting of JPEG file format as defined by ISO DIS 10918, BMP file format, and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the interface to memory includes an interface to non-volatile memory.

16. The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are stored in a comment field of an image format.

17. The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are stored in a marker segment of a JPEG image format JPEG as defined by ISO DIS 10918.

18. The device of method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more panoramic parameters are stored with an index value representing a sequence number of the current image in the series of images.

19. The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more panoramic parameters includes any one of the parameters of displacement, color, and focal length.